


Prodigal

by SeaSpectre160



Series: Unmade [4]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Drive
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe, Cyborg!Chase, Dysfunctional Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Returning Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-07 17:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4272078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaSpectre160/pseuds/SeaSpectre160
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before becoming Proto-Drive, before his capture, before being turned into a monster, his family life was in shambles. He doesn't know what to expect when he is finally allowed to return home.</p><p>
  <img/>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Estrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another addition to the 'Unmade' series. I have to admit, I wanted this to be a one-shot focusing on Human!Chase's family, but a different part got away from me, so this is now a two-shot, with more family stuff in Chapter 2.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kamen Rider Drive.

Toshita Ryū had been the firstborn son of Toshita Kyō and Kumiko, and the elder brother of Toshita Ryō. They’d had him relatively young and had struggled to get through school while taking care of two sons, but they’d made it, for a while. His childhood had been average, up until he was ten years old. That was when his parents’ marriage had started to fall apart. By the age of eleven, he routinely laid awake to the sounds of them screaming at each other about finances and jobs and chores and parenting and anything else that happened to come up. When he was twelve, his mother up and left, leaving him and his brother alone in the care of their father.

Kyō did his best to provide for his boys, but with only one income, they were forced to move into a smaller apartment in a rougher area of the city. Ryū grew angrier at his father as time went on, blaming him for driving his mother away. He spent less and less time at home, falling in with a tough crowd and taking his frustrations out in fights. He was so wrapped up in his anger that he never thought about what kind of example he was setting for Ryō, who was six years his junior and who followed his big brother around constantly.

He grew angrier, but also colder. He eventually developed a reputation for being utterly ruthless if someone pissed him off, and others tended to be unnerved at his ability to channel his anger into his fists without generally blowing his top. He rarely yelled when he was mad, rarely ran in with some sloppy attack, simply directing everything into the power of his punches with an efficiency that came with years of practice, and scared the living hell out of everyone, except for Ryō, for some reason. Maybe it was because Ryū never, ever turned that anger onto him, and also had gained a rep for sticking up for the underdog.

By the time Ryū was twenty-one and just barely getting by in university, the tension between him and his father had escalated to the point that every conversation turned into a full-blown argument. Kyō berated his son for his disregard for (and poor performance in) school, his inability to hold a part-time job due to his anti-social attitude, and the fact that his habit of solving his problems with violence was rubbing off on Ryō. Ryū criticised his father for his workaholic tendencies, for being out of the house so often that Ryū had had to learn too quickly how to take care of himself and Ryō, and for his tendency to expect what Ryū felt was too much of him. After their biggest blowup over Ryū getting caught fighting on campus (again), Ryū left. He packed up a bag of clothes, said goodbye to his brother (and ignored Ryō pleading for him to stay), and left.

For the first couple of weeks, he bounced around between the few friends he'd made in school, but he could tell he was becoming a burden to them. He only had the money he'd managed to draw from his trust fund, and he knew it wouldn't last long. He wound up taking odd jobs here and there, and eventually earned enough to afford rent in a small, run-down apartment.

* * *

_Tuesday, March 11 th, 2014_

It was on a cold, rainy Tuesday in early March that his life changed forever. He was walking home from the factory at which he was currently employed when the atmosphere abruptly changed around him. The air became thicker, like he was swimming through a stiff sort of gel, and his body abruptly grew heavy, as if someone had suddenly turned up the gravity. People on the street around him started panicking as they felt the same effect. Then the monster showed up.

It was humanoid, of roughly average height, and made entirely of metal, like some kind of robot. It promptly began smashing things and cackling, the strange slow-motion effect not bothering it in the slightest. Ryū nearly had a heart attack when he saw some large pieces of debris flying through the air, in slow motion, towards a pair of little kids near him.

He tried running to them, but it was like wading through day-old syrup or something. Still, he pushed forward until he’d reached the children and put himself in between them and the flying pieces, and started pushing them down to the ground. Pain burst from his shoulder as one sharp edge slowly sliced its way through, but he was otherwise unharmed, and the kids were completely unscathed.

Then a strange, high-pitched honking noise could be heard. Ryū turned around, with great difficulty, to see small, toy-sized cars zipping around the monster on little floating tracks that seemed to materialise wherever they were needed, and to fold up behind the cars when they'd passed. Like the monster, they moved through the air with no signs of the difficulty that everyone else was experiencing. He was a bit too far away to see the details, but he was pretty sure that the orange one was shooting miniature fireballs. The others appeared to be harassing the monster in other ways, some sideswiping it and actually doing damage despite their small size.

Eventually, the monster was chased off, and the air went back to normal. Ryū saw the little flying cars zip away around a corner, and quickly checked to be sure the kids were okay before he began to chase after them.

He followed them to an empty warehouse, but lost them once he got inside. Frustrated, he turned to leave and head back to his apartment, when he heard something. A man’s voice was coming from behind a metal door that had been left ajar. Curious, Ryū crept over and peered in.

The little cars were indeed there, flying around the room. In fact, there were more than twice as many as Ryū had seen earlier! They were all circling around some sort of podium. There was nothing – and no one – else in the room.

“None of you were hurt?” the deep voice questioned. Ryū was shocked to realise that it was coming from the podium. One of the cars in the crowd revved its engine in an apparent answer. “Good. The Roidmudes are too powerful for you to engage in combat for too long. If only I could find someone for the Drive System…”

He might have said more, but at that moment, more little flying cars decided to make their entrance – from _right_ behind Ryū. He jumped and swore as one whizzed past his ear, honking, making his presence known.

“Who’s there?” The podium swiveled around to reveal a device mounted on it with a circular display of an animation of an angry-looking face. Ryū gasped, realising that the voice wasn’t coming from a hidden person, but from the device on the podium. Was it another robot? Upon seeing him, the face changed to one of surprise. “Oh dear.”

Ryū was frozen to the spot, fully aware that all attention was now fixed on him. “What the hell is going on here?!” he gasped, “Who- What are you? What was that monster back there?”

“Ah. You saw all that. That was a Roidmude, a member of a cybernetic race bent on world domination. I am Krim Steinbelt, and I am attempting to stop them with the help of the Shift Cars.”

Evil robots aiming for world domination? Flying toy cars trying to save the world? If it weren’t for the fact that his shoulder still hurt like a bitch, he would have assumed he was dreaming. “You’re kidding,” he said flatly, “This cannot be happening. I must’ve hit my head instead of my shoulder. This is all one big hallucination.”

“You were hurt? Doctor!” One of the little cars flew over to Ryū and started circling around him. Up close, it looked like a miniature ambulance. “This is Mad Doctor. He can treat your injury, if you wish.”

Ryū raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to see tha-AGH!”

Mad Doctor had apparently taken his sarcastic statement literally, as three glowing scalpels had materialised out of thin air and had proceeded to stab at his shoulder. Ryū tried to swat them away, but they just dodged and continued what they were doing. After ten long, painful seconds, the scalpels disappeared and Mad Doctor backed off, leeaving Ryū panting and cursing.

“What the hell was…” He trailed off as he realised that the cut on his shoulder had disappeared, and the pain was already starting to fade away. “What… How did…?”

“Mad Doctor has effective healing abilities,” the ‘Krim Steinbelt’ thing explained, “Although I should have warned you that the treatment is less than pleasant.”

“No shit. So you’re telling me that you and your little toy cars here are out to take down evil robots, or something? Why didn’t they defeat the one I saw?”

Steinbelt’s ‘face’ shifted to an expression that actually looked embarrassed. “Well, that's the thing… They can’t.”

Several minutes later, in which Steinbelt explained that he was the consciousness of a dead scientist, killed by the Roidmudes, stored inside the ‘Drive Driver’, that the Shift Cars were his inventions, and that he was still looking for a human to use a weapons system that could actually take the Roidmudes out, Ryū had slowly adjusted to the fact that yes, this really was happening. Evil robots did exist in the same world in which he’d grown up.

“So, what you’re saying is that until you can find a person to do your fighting for you, all you’ve got is the Shift Cars, who unfortunately can’t do much more than harass your enemies into temporarily leaving people alone,” he summarised bluntly.

Now Krim looked annoyed. “That is the gist of it, yes.”

Ryū then made a statement that would surprise even him. “I’ll do it.”

“What?!”

“It’s not the sort of job you can put out a want ad for, I already know what’s going on, and I know how to fight. Unless you have any other candidates…”

“I… Well…”

* * *

_Friday, May 15 th, 2015_

Eventually, Ryū had managed to convince Krim to allow him to become the first Kamen Rider, Proto-Drive. It was a decision he never regretted, not when he nearly lost his first fight, not when he found himself up against an entire invasion of Roidmudes, not when he mourned the losses of the people he failed to save.

He didn’t even regret it when the Roidmudes captured him and began to turn him into a cyborg. Throughout the entire, agonising process, his only regret was that he’d never made up with his father, that he had left his little brother behind, because now he would never have the chance to make peace with either of them.

At least, he thought he wouldn’t.

He’d been thoroughly shocked to realise that he’d survived his fight with Drive and his new Type Formula. Even more so to learn that Drive’s friend, Kiriko, whom he’d threatened and put in danger, had found him and decided to nurse him back to health. He didn’t think he’d been on the receiving end of such kindness in a long time, though with his memories still missing, it was hard to say. Once he’d gotten them back, and had gotten over the shock that the Minister of Defense guy he and Tomari had passed in the hallway was none other than 001 himself, Ryū had wanted only one thing: to go home.

Now that he finally remembered where home was, he found himself at the front door of his father’s apartment. Tomari and Kiriko were with him for support, and to help him explain his ordeal to his family.

He raised his hand to knock, but found that he couldn’t. What was he supposed to say after he’d up and walked out of their lives, just like his mother had? How was he supposed to make up for that?

“Cha-Ryū?” Kiriko whispered, still getting used to using his real name, “Is something wrong?”

Ryū turned to look back at her. She and Tomari were looking at him with concerned expressions. He was about to answer when a voice could be heard on the other side of the door, just before it swung open.

His father froze in the opening, car keys and wallet in hand and his cell phone wedged between his ear and his shoulder as he consulted a grocery list. The two men stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. “Ryū,” Kyō gasped after a long period of silence, his voice thick with emotion.

“Tou-san,” Ryū whispered, “I’m-”

He was cut off as his father dropped everything and hugged him so tightly, it would have threatened his ribs if not for Brain’s modifications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I'm going to leave it off here for now and work on posting 'The Other Two-in-One Hero', but I will be back. Next chapter will have the full reunion between Ryū and his family. See you then! Spectre out!


	2. The Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the second chapter. Here I'm going to delve deeper into Ryū's relationship with his father and brother. I'm also going to deal more with his reaction to everything he's been through. Remember, in Drive, Chase is a robot who handles having been reprogrammed 3 times considerably well. In Unmade, Ryū is a human who's been MIND-RAPED 3 times. His reaction WILL be different.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kamen Rider Drive. I only own Ryū's brother and father.

_Friday, May 15 th, 2015_

As Ryū sat down on his father’s couch for the first time in over a year, he still wasn’t sure what to say. The last time they’d spoken, they’d been screaming at each other about stupid stuff, things that seemed so inane and meaningless compared to everything he’d been through in the past year. How was he supposed to pretend that that hadn’t happened? And how could he possibly begin to explain what had been done to him? Kiriko sat next to him, and lightly put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tomari settled on his other side, not getting as close but still providing silent support.

“I’m so glad to see you’re alright,” his father began after Tomari and Kiriko had introduced themselves, “I know we didn’t part on the best of terms, but when you didn’t even contact Ryō after a few months, I was afraid that something had happened to you. How… um… how have you been?”

Ryū stared at his hands, not knowing where to start. How do you tell your father that you got caught up in fighting evil robots, and were captured, tortured, and brainwashed into serving them? That you were their most feared mercenary, the biggest rival of the Kamen Rider that everyone looked up to?

Kiriko spoke first, saving him from having to start. “Ryū has unfortunately had a serious case of amnesia for just over a year. He’s only just regained his memories today.”

Kyō gasped and stared his son. “Amnesia? How? Do you know what happened?!”

Ryū didn’t lift his gaze, not wanting to see the horror in his father’s eyes when he learned the truth. “March before last, I… I had an encounter with a Roidmude, one of the robots that’ve been all over the news. I got involved with someone who was trying to stop them, but… it ended badly. I was captured. They wanted to…”

_Pure, unadulterated horror arose in him when he saw that he was lying spread-eagle on a metal table, stripped nude, with half a dozen robotic arms working on something silver and metal **inside** his left arm, which had been cut open with surgical precision all the way from his wrist to his shoulder, the skin and sinew being held apart by metal forceps. Blood pooled around the limb, but not enough to suggest that he was in danger of bleeding out. He wondered if that was such a good thing._

He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. The memories of that day were coming back, along with the pain and fear.

_“If you really think I’ll join you, you’re- AGH!” The machine working on him did something that sent a fresh jolt of pain through his body. He looked back at his arm and saw that the skin had been moved back into place, and that the robotic devices were injecting something into various points along the limb. He watched, terrified yet fascinated, as the flesh knit itself back together. Not even a scar remained to hint at what had been done to him._

“They were interested in combining human biology with their technology, and I was their test subject. Th-they…”

_One of the mechanical arms, now sporting a wicked scalpel-like blade, moved over his chest to hover near his right collarbone. Again, he tried in vain to move away, but his body wouldn’t respond. He couldn’t even manage a twitch. A humming sound came from the device, the blade visibly heating up until it was white-hot._

_Then the blade was brought down and pierced his skin, and all rational thought was lost as the stench of burnt flesh and a new wave of utter agony overwhelmed him._

Kiriko moved her hand from his shoulder to his own hand and squeezed it. He hadn’t even realised he was shaking. “Take your time,” she whispered gently.

_An indeterminable amount of time later, his transformation was almost complete, only his head remaining unaltered for the moment. He’d been forced to experience metal being fused to his bones, certain organs being removed and replaced with mechanical substitutions, wires being implanted into his flesh and muscles. He’d blacked out more than once, dreaming that he was back with his friends and family, only to wake up to this nightmare all over again. His vocal chords had long since given out from screaming._

Ryū tried to keep his breathing steady, to regain his calm. But it wasn’t easy. The regained memories felt like they had just occurred, they were so clear.

“Ryū…” Kyō whispered, “What did they do to you?”

“They changed me, into something… not human. I’ve got metal implants throughout my entire body, and they erased my memories so that I would fight for them instead. I sort of fought it, I mean, I started to remember bits and pieces, but they would just wipe my mind again. It happened twice. I didn’t break free of their control until last April, but it still took me until today to remember anything.”

That was the barest summation of the events, but he supposed it would take a while before he would be comfortable with talking about the pain and fear he’d gone through. How he remembered nearly every moment of the procedure, when he hadn’t blacked out from the pain. How utterly disoriented he still felt after his mind had been rearranged not once, but three times.

Finally, he lifted his head to look up at his father. The older man’s face was full of horror as he stared at his son like he didn’t even recognise him.

Before anyone could say anything else, the apartment door opened again, and a gangly teenager entered, headphones in his ears. He didn’t even say anything as he walked past the living room entryway, not even noticing the people sitting there.

“Ryō,” his father called, “Come in here!”

Ryō had already disappeared beyond the doorway, but they all heard him pause and then retrace his steps. “Oyaji?” he called, “I thought you were getting groceries?” Then he froze once his eyes landed on Ryū.

His little brother had gotten taller in the eighteen months since Ryū had been home. He was nearly seventeen, now. The hurt in his eyes stung Ryū deeply, knowing that Ryō had looked up to him and had to have been affected when he left.

“Ryō,” he whispered, standing up, “Hey.”

Ryō didn’t speak at first. He just stared at his big brother with a mixed expression of shock and anger. Ryū didn’t blame him. He’d always felt guilty for leaving Ryō behind, but what choice had there been? Their father could take care of him just fine, there hadn’t been a whole lot that he’d needed protection from, and it wasn’t like Ryū could have taken his little brother with him when he’d moved out. But why hadn’t he called? He asked himself that over and over again, whenever he thought about picking up the phone or swinging by Ryō’s school or something and ultimately decided not to. He still didn’t understand why he hadn’t.

“Look, I know you’re probably mad at me for leaving, but-”

“Mad?” Ryō growled, “You just up and left! Never called, never checked in to see how I was doing! You just walked out of my life, you didn’t care about me! You think you can just walk back in here and go ‘Hey’ like everything’s back to the way it was?!”

“Ryō-” their father tried to cut in, but he was ignored as Ryō continued ranting.

“I looked up to you my whole life, and you just left me without a single glance back! I trusted you, and you tossed me aside! Everyone told me they thought you were some kind of heartless monster, and I stuck up for you, but then you went and proved me wrong! You’re just as bad as they said!” And he turned and stormed out. The sound of his bedroom door slamming echoed through the stunned silence of the apartment.

Ryū sank back down onto the couch. He’d been fully aware of his reputation, of how many people had feared him. Everyone had been scared of him, the crowd he’d hung with being careful not to piss him off because they preferred to have him unleashed on their enemies instead of the other way around. Even most of the Roidmudes had been terrified of the Reaper. Ryō had been the only one who wasn’t scared, who didn’t listen when people called his big brother a cold-blooded monster. Until now.

And after everything that had happened, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they were all right. His greatest talent seemed to be making people fear him, after all.

* * *

It had been getting late when they’d first showed up at his old home, and after multiple failed attempts to bring Ryū out of his new state of depression or to get Ryō to come out of his room, Tomari and Kiriko had reluctantly left. Ryū had offered to go, too, but his father had been adamant that he was still welcome to stay. Since Ryō was still in a foul mood, Ryū decided to sleep on the couch instead of in the bedroom they once shared.

_The white-hot blade sliced at the skin and flesh on his right leg, systematically cutting it open and filling the air with a nauseating burnt smell. Only a small amount of blood dripped from the cauterised wound as haunting laughter filled his ears. His mouth was open in a silent scream, but his voice had given out during the hour or more of torture that he’d already endured. He was coming to eagerly await the completion of his transformation, if only so that the pain would stop._

_He couldn’t move, but whatever was paralysing him did nothing to numb the agony as one robotic arm began to set the steel reinforcement against the exposed femur. He screwed his eyes shut, knowing what would come next since they’d already done this to his ribs, pelvis, and all the bones in his other leg. He didn’t need to see the welding-torch-like arm as it heated the metal so hot that it fused to the bone._

“Ryū…”

_He would rather take on a thousand Roidmudes at once instead of suffering another second of this torment, but he was powerless, unable to have any say. His fate laid entirely in the uncaring hands of the sadistic machines using him as a lab rat._

“Ryū!”

_This must be what Hell felt like. Maybe he’d already died and gone there. Maybe there would be no end to this torture, maybe it would go on for eternity._

“RYŪ!”

Eyes shot open, and a fist swung at the shadowy figure standing over him. He scrambled to his feet, hitting his head on something but ignoring it, reaching and grasping for a weapon until his left hand found something he could pick up and use to defend himself.

Then the lights flicked on. His heart going a mile a minute, it took Ryū a couple seconds to recognise his father, sitting between the couch and the coffee table and holding a hand to his bleeding mouth, and Ryō, standing at the entrance to the living room, frozen with his hand still on the light switch. Ryū didn’t understand what was going on. He’d just been in the Roidmudes’ lab; how had he gotten home? Had he finally been driven mad from the pain?

“Ryū,” his father gasped, getting to his feet, “Ryū, calm down. You were having a nightmare, remember? It’s okay. You can put the lamp down.”

The lamp? Glancing down, he saw that he was indeed defensively clutching the lamp that normally sat on the end table next to the couch.

“But…” he whispered, still disoriented, “How… Where…” The lamp dropped from his hands and landed on the carpeted floor and he reached up to clutch his head. His entire body was shaking, he couldn’t breathe, his vision started greying out, and his knees buckled.

“Ryū!” Strong arms encircled him, holding him up; he probably could have broken free but his mind was in too much chaos to properly fight back. He didn’t understand what was going on at all. “Hey, easy, it’s okay. You’re safe. Wherever you were dreaming of, you’re not there. It wasn’t real.”

Not real? How could it not be real? He remembered everything, all the pain, all the terror.

“Take deep breaths, and try to calm down. In and out, okay?”

He obeyed the voice, not knowing what else to do, trying to slow his breathing down from the hyperventilating rate it had been going at. As he slowly succeeded, other memories started coming back. Right, that Hell had happened over a year ago. He’d finally been saved from the Roidmudes’ brainwashing and had returned home. Then he remembered his little brother’s blowup and how it’d led to him sleeping on the couch instead of in his own bed.

His father practically carried him back to the couch and sat down with him, still not letting go.

“What happened?” Ryū finally heard himself asking. He was too busy looking at the horrified expression on Ryō’s face as he stared at the scene before him.

“You were screaming in your sleep,” his father answered softly, “I tried to wake you up, and you took a swing at me.” Sure enough, when he pulled his gaze away from his brother and looked up at his father, he was horrified to see that the man’s lip was, in fact, bloody and a bruise was already beginning to form.

“Oh my God. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“I know, I know, it was just a reflex. It’s okay.”

“What the hell was that?” Ryō finally asked, “What the hell were you dreaming about that had you screaming and nearly punching out your own father?!”

“Ryō!” Kyō snapped. The younger Toshita brother had refused to hear any explanation as to why his brother had been gone for so long.

“I remember it,” Ryū whispered, getting his father’s attention back on him, “I remember it all.”

He felt his father sucking his breath in. “All of what?” His initial reaction, though, suggested that he’d already figured it out.

“Lab rats don’t need anaesthesia. I’d pass out once or twice, but other than that, I was awake for all of it.”

“My God…” Kyō held him even tighter, “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

“All what?” Ryō demanded impatiently.

Ryū, his nerves already frayed, was losing his patience as well. “I was held by those robots you’ve seen on the news and tortured and turned into a cyborg,” he summarised bluntly, watching the colour drain out of Ryō’s face, “They stole my memories and made me fight for them, and I only just remembered what my own _name_ was today! So I’m sorry I left you alone, but it’s not like I was off having fun without you!” Ryō sat down heavily on the floor, while Ryū closed his eyes and tried to keep his breathing steady. His head hurt and he was still shaking from the remembered pain.

“Ryū, you’re bleeding.” Kyō said, gently prodding at his son’s hairline. Ryū reached up as well, and felt something wet and sticky. His fingertips came away red. He vaguely remembered hitting his head when he woke up. “Ryō, get the First Aid kit.” Ryō shakily got to his feet and went to the kitchen. When he returned, Kyō was still searching for the wound.

“It’s probably closed up by now,” Ryū told him, “They put in some kind of nanites that help me heal. My arm was cut open to the bone and I don’t even have a scar.”

“Cool,” Ryō whispered, ducking his head when he realised he’d spoken aloud, “Sorry. Really, I…” An awkward silence fell over the living room as Kyō settled for just cleaning the blood away. The spot was still sore, though. His wounds might have closed up fast, but the pain didn’t magically go away along with the injury.

* * *

_Saturday, May 16 th, 2015_

By the time they were done, the sun was starting to peek above the horizon. Their father announced that he had to go to work, and reminded Ryō that he needed to get ready for school. Neither wanted to leave Ryū alone, not after the nightmare, but he assured them that he was fine, that he was to actually meet up with Tomari and the rest of the Special Crimes Unit to discuss a plan of action. After all, though he didn’t voice this out loud, they’d just discovered that the freaking Minister of Defense was a Roidmude – their _leader_ , for crying out loud!

Before they left, Ryō surprised his brother and hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry for what I said. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

“Yes I did,” Ryū admitted, “I still left you. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as long if… everything… hadn’t happened, but that doesn’t change that I left and didn’t even call you for five months.” He sighed. “I wanted to shut our father out, but I never should have done the same to you.”

Ryō sighed as well. “Yeah, you shouldn’t have, but I’m pretty sure I don’t know _more than half_ of what you’ve been through in the past year, and what I _do_ know about sounds like you’ve paid more than enough. Like, at least ten times more.”

“You’ve got to let me make it up to you somehow.”

“Well… there _is_ one thing… Is that badass bike down in the parking lot yours? The one with black and purple flames?”

“Yeah. How’d you guess?”

“Didn’t recognise it, nobody’s moved in recently, and none of the other tenants are motorcycle people, so I figured the owner was a guest or something.”

“…What does my bike have to do with anything?”

“Will you teach me how to ride it?”

Ryū pulled away. “It took you _two full years_ to learn how to ride a regular bike without falling over or crashing into something,” he deadpanned, “And you want me to trust you with a motorcycle? Do you secretly want our father to kill me?”

“Oyaji won’t kill you. You’re just afraid I’ll chip the paint or something.”

“That’s a legitimate concern. So is you driving into a lamp post or something at high speed.”

“Can you at least drop me off at school?”

Ryū sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. Just this once.”

Ryō hugged him again. “I missed you, Aniki.”

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now. I won't be writing anything new for Unmade until I finish some other fics and until Drive is finished.


End file.
